Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard speaks to the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce at the Jackson Center in Huntsville, Tuesday August 9, 2011.(The Huntsville Times/Glenn Baeske)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard is strongly backing a proposal that would help fund the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology's efforts to provide genetics training for every biology teacher in Alabama.

It would also cover the costs of substitutes on the days the teachers are in training, continue an intensive two-week training program at HudsonAlpha, cover teacher housing costs during the sessions and add genetics instruction as part of career training education.

There are more than 1,300 middle school and high school biology teachers in Alabama, Lamb said.

Hubbard said the proposal came out of a remark he made during a visit to HudsonAlpha last summer after he observed the work and training being conducted.

"I said if we could bring every biology teacher in Alabama through this, it would be amazing," Hubbard said. "Neil then approached me and asked if I was serious. I told him I was and then he crafted the proposal."

Hubbard, Alabama State School Superintendent Tommy Bice and a group of Alabama House members toured the facility Monday and heard presentations by Lamb and Dr. Rick Myers, HudsonAlpha's president and director.

Myers talked about the widespread economic impact of the mapping of the human genome. Myers said that total spending on that original multi-lab mapping effort - which began in 1990 and was completed in 2003 - was about $3.8 billion. So far, genomic work and related projects and products have generated $800 billion, Myers said.

Lamb noted that one-third of high school biology class material covers genetics and genome-related work, but even current textbooks stop at the mapping of the genome. All of the advances since then are left out. HudsonAlpha has been working to help teachers gain confidence to teach the subject and to have current information.

To that end, every year Lamb culls journals to gather the latest findings in the field. He and his staff collect that material and put together a book that is readily understandable and can be used by teachers to develop lessons.

A copy of the book is sent to every high school in Alabama, without charge and its also available electronically.

Lamb said the proposal to the Alabama Legislature would dramatically expand the scope and scale of HudsonAlpha's teacher training efforts, through content development and by providing funds to make it easier for teachers to attend training.

The idea that Alabama can be a national leader in training students and teachers in the burgeoning field of genetics and biotechnology was what drove Hubbard's interest. He said it can have the same impact as the state's successful reading and science education initiatives.

"This is a world-class facility," Hubbard said. "To not use the brainpower and technological ability here for Alabama schools would be a terrible mistake. If this program does what I think it can do, it will mean an outstanding return for taxpayers."

HudsonAlpha has been doing teacher training for more than three years, including about 30 a year during the two-week intense sessions at the institute. It also gives those teachers about $1,000 worth of genetics-related teaching materials to use in the classroom.

Lamb said the education staff at the institute counts up the interactions it has with teachers, students and community members each year. For 2011, they interacted with 53,000 people, double the previous year and for 2012 they expect that number to grow to more than 100,000 people.

Hubbard said he expects the project will have the support necessary to add it to the next state budget.